Tehrantimes - The Iranian national football team will play Papua New Guinea as part of preparation for the match against Syria in the 2018 World Cup qualifier.

According to Iran Football Federation, Team Melli will face PNG on November 11 in Malaysia.

Carlos Queiroz’s team had been scheduled to meet Thailand but the match was cancelled due to death of the country’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Soon after, Iran Football Federation announced that Team Melli will play Iraq but the match was also called off after its counterpart changed the place of the match from Tehran to Abu Dhabi.

PNG head Coach, Flemming Serritslev, has also worked in Iran as technical director of Mes Kerman.

Team Melli, who has moved up to 27th in recently FIFA rankings, sits top of Group A with 10 points.
PNG is 159th in the rankings.

The top two in each group reach the 2018 finals with the two third-placed sides meeting over two legs for the chance to face a CONCACAF team in a final playoff for a ticket to Russia.